Good morning. You are studying the Up First publication. Subscribe right here to get it delivered to your inbox, and pay attention to the Up First podcast for all of the information you should begin your day.
In the present day’s prime tales
The U.S. and Israel’s battle on Iran has entered Day 12 with no sign of ending. The Trump administration yesterday promised its most aggressive strikes on Iran, whereas Israel intensified its offensive in Lebanon. In the meantime, the Iranian authorities introduced that it now considers banks and financial facilities within the Center East potential targets. Iranians revealed that one in every of their banks has already been focused.
Mourners carry the casket of an individual killed in current U.S.-Israeli airstrikes for burial at Behesht-e Zahra cemetery on the southern outskirts of Tehran, Iran, on Monday. The US and Israel launched strikes in opposition to Iran on Feb. 28, sparking swift retaliation by Iran with assaults throughout the area.
Atta Kenare/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
cover caption
toggle caption
Atta Kenare/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
- 🎧 The web throughout Iran has been reduce, and many individuals are afraid to share their experiences because of potential authorities retaliation, NPR’s Aya Batrawy tells Up First. Individuals escaping Tehran by the Turkish border inform NPR they left as a result of the sky is pink from bombs, and multi-story buildings lie in ruins. There’s nonetheless no phrase from Iran’s new supreme chief, Mojtaba Khamenei. Batrawy says studies recommend he was injured within the assault that killed his father, who was the previous supreme chief. Nevertheless, Batrawy says there is no such thing as a strategy to independently affirm this declare.
- 🎧 Trump is struggling politically as a result of U.S.’ involvement within the battle with Iran, based on a brand new NPR/PBS/Marist ballot. NPR’s Domenico Montanaro says that of the almost 1,600 individuals surveyed, solely 36% approve of Trump’s dealing with of the battle, whereas 56% of respondents oppose it. Trump’s general approval ranking stands at 38%. It is even decrease with regard to the financial system. At 35%, it is his worst ranking thus far. Regardless of these scores, eight in 10 Republicans nonetheless again Trump’s financial insurance policies and his strategy to Iran. Whereas some MAGA influencers criticize the battle, they do not characterize nearly all of Republican voters. Montanaro says that the ballot most notably reveals that independents have shifted to align extra with Democrats on varied points, together with Iran.
- 📷 Because the battle continues into its second week, take a have a look at these putting scenes from Iran, Israel, Lebanon and different flashpoints.
Yesterday’s particular election to exchange Marjorie Taylor Greene in Congress heads to a runoff after not one of the 17 candidates surpassed 50% of the vote. Trump-backed district lawyer Clay Fuller will face Democrat Shawn Harris within the runoff. Harris raised greater than $4 million and considerably overperformed in comparison with when he challenged Greene two years in the past. However the GOP nonetheless holds the higher hand within the pink district.
- 🎧 Trump stays the GOP’s hottest determine, however Republican voters more and more acknowledge that his picks are not the one possibility, NPR’s Stephen Fowler says. After the particular election, Trump’s marketing campaign political director, James Blair, posted that each one Trump-endorsed candidates gained or superior to a runoff. This was true in North Carolina, Texas and Arkansas, however many races have been uncontested or lacked critical challengers. Michael Whatley, who Trump handpicked to steer the RNC and characterize the occasion within the prime Senate race, solely acquired 60% within the main.
Practically half of Individuals help deploying the Nationwide Guard to watch polling locations within the November midterm elections. It could be unlawful for the federal authorities to mandate this. However state governors can legally use them to help elections in lots of capacities. A current NPR/PBS Information/Marist ballot launched right now discovered that 46% again the thought, whereas 54% oppose it.
Final month, the Division of Justice quietly launched the names of twenty-two people and introduced that their federal gun rights had been restored. Most of them had decades-old felony convictions. One individual was an exception and had a way more current cost. Republican Arizona State Sen. Jake Hoffman was indicted in 2024 for being a pretend elector in 2020. Trump pardoned Hoffman in November. The restorations are a part of a broader DOJ initiative to revive a program that enables people with sure felony convictions to regain their Second Modification rights if they’re not deemed public security threats.
Image present
Individuals study and play American Mahjong on the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. In-person meetups to play Mahjong are rising in reputation together with curiosity within the recreation.
Maansi Srivastava for NPR
cover caption
toggle caption
Maansi Srivastava for NPR
Extra individuals throughout the U.S. are displaying curiosity within the centuries-old tile recreation Mahjong and creating group connections within the course of. The sport, which consists of tiles that gamers should place in particular mixtures, was first launched within the nation within the Nineteen Twenties. Over the past 12 months, Mahjong has elevated in reputation, significantly amongst Gen Z and Millennials. The development is pushed by social media content material targeted on gameplay and the sport’s historical past. NPR noticed the curiosity firsthand throughout a Sunday afternoon meetup on the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. See photographs of the gathering. You can even hearken to individuals from the occasion focus on why they benefit from the recreation or learn the transcript.
Behind the story
by Cheryl Corley, NPR’s Midwest Bureau Chief on the Nationwide Desk
A portrait of Rev. Jesse Jackson sits subsequent to flowers as his physique lies in state on the South Carolina Statehouse on March 2, 2026, in Columbia, South Carolina. Born in 1941 in Greenville, South Carolina, Jackson died on February 17. His physique will lie in state in Columbia after which be transferred to Chicago for a celebration of life ceremony.
Sean Rayford/Getty Pictures
cover caption
toggle caption
Sean Rayford/Getty Pictures
I’ve lined Jesse Jackson for a few years, together with his run for the presidency in 1988. So it was considerably surreal to see this big of the civil rights motion enclosed in a casket lined by a glass prime when he lay in repose. Throughout an interview with Jackson’s mentee, the Rev. Al Sharpton, he talked about what I had been pondering — how ironic and becoming that when one of many final leaders of the civil rights period died on Feb. 17, it was through the one hundredth anniversary of Black Historical past Month.
1000’s paid tribute over a number of days. Jackson’s little kids stood in line to greet mourners. His daughter Jacqueline — hardly ever seen in public — clasped my hand after which held it longer as I started to stroll away. There are moments as a reporter when the official second turns into a private one. That interplay will stand out for me, together with lots of the tales individuals advised about how Jackson impacted their lives. Later at her father’s funeral, Jacqueline would discuss feeding Jackson in his final days. How he taught her to learn and write when she was homeschooled. How this activist man, who traveled the nation and the globe calling for and making change, was generally referred to as Reverend at house however extra typically simply Dad.
There have been so many dignitaries, political and non secular leaders, entertainers and Jackson allies at his funeral. The breadth of Jackson’s affect was seen. There have been three former U.S. presidents: Joe Biden, Invoice Clinton and Barack Obama. Two African presidents: Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa and Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was a second to embrace the truth that the person who was “strolling historical past” was not with us, and that others, together with his son Yusef Jackson, the now CEO of the Rainbow Push Coalition, must make new historical past as they proceed Jackson’s civil rights and human rights battle.
3 issues to know earlier than you go
Christina Chang holds Gemma, a carpet python, throughout Snake Yoga at HISSS in Portland, Ore. on Feb. 26.
Celeste Noche for NPR
cover caption
toggle caption
Celeste Noche for NPR
- Neglect canine or goat yoga. Even reindeer yoga is previous information. A Portland, Ore., class ups the ante with the final surprising animal classmate: snakes.
- GLP-1 medication like Ozempic can scale back the danger of habit, based on a examine in The BMJ. The medical journal reported that the drug helped individuals with a historical past of substance use dysfunction keep away from overdose, drug-related hospitalization, drug-related demise or suicide makes an attempt.
- A examine revealed within the journal Nature means that rising seas could have an effect on as many as 132 million extra individuals than beforehand thought.
This text was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.
